 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Mahiyangana" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(September 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Mahiyanganaya මහියංගණය | |
|---|---|
  Mahiyanganaya | |
| Coordinates:7°19′00″N80°58′58″E / 7.31667°N 80.98278°E /7.31667; 80.98278 | |
| Country | Sri Lanka |
| Province | Uva Province |
| District | Badulla |
| Government | |
| • Type | Local Government (ප්රාදේශිය සභාව) |
| Time zone | UTC+5:30 (Sri Lanka Standard Time Zone) |
| Postal Code | 90700 |
| Area code | 055 |
Mahiyanganaya is a town situated close to the Mahaweli River inBadulla District,Uva Province ofSri Lanka. It is said thatGautama Buddha visited Mahiyanganaya on the Duruthu full moon poya day in order to settle a dispute arose between Yakkas and Nagas (two tribes which then inhabited the area) and this was his first ever visit to Sri Lanka. Then the Buddha preached Dhamma to Sumana Saman, a leader in this area, to whom the Buddha gave a handful of his hair relic so that people could worship. After that Sumana Saman (now the godSumana Saman) built a golden chethiya in which the sacred hair relic was deposited. Later on about seven chethiyas were built over the original golden chethiya from time to time, the last one being built by the King Dutugemunu. As such, this historic town is a very sacred place for Buddhists.
The majority of the people in this area are engaged in paddy cultivation being the main economic activity.
Mahiyangana is a Pali word (in Sinhalese Bintenna) which means flat land. It is situated eastwards to the steep eastern falls of central hills. The relative flatness of the area can be seen while traveling on the road from Kandy toPadiyathalawa across Hunnasgiriya and famous 18 hairpin bends.
The nearest railway station is Badulla. Mahiyangana is connected to cities and towns likeKandy,Badulla,Polonnaruwa,Ampara andMonaragala by main roads.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
 | ThisUva Province, Sri Lanka location article is astub. You can help Wikipedia byexpanding it. |
